Ballot Error Could Cost City Thousands of Dollars
By: Sarah Hatten
Updated: October 15, 2012
(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) An error on the November ballot could be a costly oversight.
The city of St. Joseph voted to correct the language on the Use Tax after a one-word mistake was discovered.
"This is something new, I don't know in Buchanan County's history if it's ever happened on a Presidential election where you need to change language this far along in an election that's already going on," Mary Baack-Garvey, Buchanan County Clerk said.
The St. Joseph City Council held a special meeting to fix the language on the upcoming Use Tax on November's ballot.
The issue surrounds the text describing the number 2.375.
"City Council passed an ordinance today that amends the ballot language to recognize that the word hundredths should actually read thousandths," Bruce Woody, City Manager said.
A one word difference that could cost the city thousands of dollars.
There's no exact amount yet on how much it will cost to re-print the ballots, but when a similar situation happened in April during the school bond, it cost the school board around $20,000 to fix.
Baack-Garvey says this error could cost double that.
Those working to pass the Use Tax say they hope it doesn't cost them votes.
"[The Use Tax] has run four times already and has never passed yet, so we're facing a real challenge and this certainly complicates the issue, but certainly it's not a fatal blow," Bob Slater, Use Tax co-chair said.
The Buchanan County Clerk says a couple thousand absentee ballots have already been sent out and about 700 have already come back in.
The city simply says it was a mistake.
"It was an error, what else can I say? It did go through some proofreading processes, but was not caught," Woody said.
"Our office will deal with it, we'll handle it. Whatever the judge decides, we're ready," Baack-Garvey said.
The city says a judge will rule on this issue hopefully within the end of the week or early next week.
The city of St. Joseph voted to correct the language on the Use Tax after a one-word mistake was discovered.
"This is something new, I don't know in Buchanan County's history if it's ever happened on a Presidential election where you need to change language this far along in an election that's already going on," Mary Baack-Garvey, Buchanan County Clerk said.
The St. Joseph City Council held a special meeting to fix the language on the upcoming Use Tax on November's ballot.
The issue surrounds the text describing the number 2.375.
"City Council passed an ordinance today that amends the ballot language to recognize that the word hundredths should actually read thousandths," Bruce Woody, City Manager said.
A one word difference that could cost the city thousands of dollars.
There's no exact amount yet on how much it will cost to re-print the ballots, but when a similar situation happened in April during the school bond, it cost the school board around $20,000 to fix.
Baack-Garvey says this error could cost double that.
Those working to pass the Use Tax say they hope it doesn't cost them votes.
"[The Use Tax] has run four times already and has never passed yet, so we're facing a real challenge and this certainly complicates the issue, but certainly it's not a fatal blow," Bob Slater, Use Tax co-chair said.
The Buchanan County Clerk says a couple thousand absentee ballots have already been sent out and about 700 have already come back in.
The city simply says it was a mistake.
"It was an error, what else can I say? It did go through some proofreading processes, but was not caught," Woody said.
"Our office will deal with it, we'll handle it. Whatever the judge decides, we're ready," Baack-Garvey said.
The city says a judge will rule on this issue hopefully within the end of the week or early next week.
